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Nonprofits · head to head

Fundraise Up vs OpenGrants

Fundraise Up logo

Fundraise Up

Nonprofits

Donation checkout layer that replaces the giving form on an existing nonprofit website

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
OpenGrants logo

OpenGrants

Nonprofits

Low-cost grant search across federal, state and private funders, with a paid consultant marketplace alongside

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only OpenGrants has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Fundraise Up the fee is a percentage of donations, so cost rises exactly as the product succeeds, and a single large gift routed through the checkout carries the same rate as a twenty pound one unless the agreement caps it.; OpenGrants coverage of private foundations is thinner and less curated than Candid or Instrumentl, so a prospect list built solely from OpenGrants will miss foundations that never post public opportunity notices.
  • They diverge on capability: Fundraise Up covers Embedded donation checkout, OpenGrants covers Grant search.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Fundraise Up and OpenGrants actually diverge.

Attributes where Fundraise Up and OpenGrants differ
AttributeFundraise UpOpenGrants
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelPercentage of each donationPer user per month
Free tierNoYes

Identical on both: platforms (Web), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Nonprofits).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Fundraise Up

  • Embedded donation checkout
  • Digital wallet payments
  • Recurring gift upgrade prompts
  • Multi currency and multi language
  • Donor covered fees
  • CRM sync

Only in OpenGrants

  • Grant search
  • Saved searches and alerts
  • Funder profiles
  • Opportunity tracking
  • Consultant marketplace
  • Free tier

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Fundraise Up

  • A charity with a working CRM and website that wants to raise online conversion without replatformingnot OpenGrants
  • An international organisation needing donors to give in local currency and languagenot OpenGrants
  • A campaign pushing one time givers into monthly recurring support at the point of donationnot OpenGrants
  • A digital team that can measure conversion before and after and justify a percentage fee with datanot OpenGrants

OpenGrants

  • A small nonprofit with no research budget that needs to know whether relevant grants exist before hiring anyonenot Fundraise Up
  • A startup hunting SBIR, state innovation and economic development funding across multiple agenciesnot Fundraise Up
  • A freelance grant writer covering several clients who cannot pass on a several-hundred-dollar monthly database costnot Fundraise Up
  • An organisation wanting to hire a grant writer for one application without running a procurementnot Fundraise Up

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Fundraise Up

  • The fee is a percentage of donations, so cost rises exactly as the product succeeds, and a single large gift routed through the checkout carries the same rate as a twenty pound one unless the agreement caps it.
  • It is a checkout, not a CRM, so it is always an additional cost on top of a donor database rather than a replacement for one.
  • Donor covered fee opt in rates vary widely by audience, so an organisation with an older or offline leaning donor base absorbs more of the fee than the sales model assumes.
  • Design control is limited to what the embedded component exposes, so brand teams that want full control over the giving experience will hit boundaries.
  • Live recurring gift authorisations are held in the platform, which makes leaving considerably harder than adopting, because migrating active mandates risks lapsing donors.

OpenGrants

  • Coverage of private foundations is thinner and less curated than Candid or Instrumentl, so a prospect list built solely from OpenGrants will miss foundations that never post public opportunity notices.
  • The index leans on public opportunity feeds, which means it is strongest on government funding and weakest on the relationship-driven private philanthropy that most nonprofits actually rely on.
  • Matching is keyword driven rather than fit-scored, so users receive alerts for opportunities they are ineligible for and must qualify each one by hand.
  • The consultant marketplace is a directory with variable quality rather than a vetted panel, so buyers carry the risk of choosing a weak grant writer themselves.
  • It is a US-focused index, offering little to organisations seeking UK, EU or Canadian funding.

Pricing, plan by plan

Fundraise Up

On request
  • Fundraise Up$undefined/year
    • Platform fee taken as a percentage of every donation processed
    • Card processing billed separately on top of the platform fee
    • Optional donor covered fee prompt shifts the cost to the giver rather than removing it

OpenGrants

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Core grant search
    • Limited results and saved searches
    • No card required
  • Subscription$9/month
    • Full search access
    • Saved searches and alerts
    • Funder profiles

Which should you pick?

Choose Fundraise Up if

  • You need embedded donation checkout.
  • You also want digital wallet payments.
Fundraise Up review

Choose OpenGrants if

  • You need grant search.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want saved searches and alerts.
OpenGrants review

Questions people ask

Is Fundraise Up or OpenGrants better?
Neither clearly leads. Fundraise Up starts at On request and OpenGrants at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Fundraise Up or OpenGrants?
OpenGrants has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Fundraise Up and Free for OpenGrants.
Does Fundraise Up or OpenGrants run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use OpenGrants for free?
Yes. OpenGrants has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Fundraise Up starts at On request.
What is Fundraise Up best used for?
Fundraise Up is most often used for a charity with a working crm and website that wants to raise online conversion without replatforming, an international organisation needing donors to give in local currency and language, a campaign pushing one time givers into monthly recurring support at the point of donation, a digital team that can measure conversion before and after and justify a percentage fee with data. Of those, a charity with a working crm and website that wants to raise online conversion without replatforming and an international organisation needing donors to give in local currency and language are not what OpenGrants is typically brought in for.
What can Fundraise Up do that OpenGrants cannot?
Fundraise Up covers Embedded donation checkout, Digital wallet payments, Recurring gift upgrade prompts, Multi currency and multi language. OpenGrants covers Grant search, Saved searches and alerts, Funder profiles, Opportunity tracking.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Fundraise Up: Is Fundraise Up a CRM?

No. It is a donation checkout that syncs into a CRM you already run, so budget for both.

OpenGrants: How much does it cost?

$9 a month or $99 a year after a seven day trial, with a free tier of core search retained.

Fundraise Up: How does it charge?

A percentage of each donation, plus separately billed card processing. There is no flat licence that insulates you from volume.

OpenGrants: Why is it so much cheaper than Candid?

Because it indexes public and semi-public opportunity feeds with automation rather than employing researchers to code foundation records from tax filings. You trade depth of private foundation intelligence for price.

Fundraise Up: Does the donor covered fee option remove the cost?

It shifts it. When donors opt in they pay the platform and processing fee; when they do not, the charity does.

OpenGrants: Does it cover private foundations?

Partially. It is strongest on federal and state programmes. For systematic private foundation research, Candid remains the reference source.

Fundraise Up: What happens to recurring donors if we leave?

Active recurring authorisations sit with the platform and its processor, and migrating them is the part of an exit most organisations underestimate.

OpenGrants: Is the consultant marketplace vetted?

It is a directory, not a vetted panel. Check references and past awards yourself.

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